Ranking Pennsylvania Towns and Cities By Credit Score

Many or all of the companies featured provide compensation to LendEDU. These commissions are how we maintain our free service for consumers. Compensation, along with hours of in-depth editorial research, determines where & how companies appear on our site.

Surrounded by the states of Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia to the south, Ohio to the west, New York and the Canadian province of Ontario to the north, and New Jersey to the east, Pennsylvania is one of the most far-reaching and diverse states in the United States.

You could say Pennsylvania is in the middle of everything. And, the geographic layout of the Keystone State has made it a very important state throughout the history of the U.S.

For example, during the American Revolution the state hosted George Washington’s Continental Army at Valley Forge while the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were both drafted in Philadelphia. Additionally, the most famous battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought within Pennsylvania’s borders.

Besides Pennsylvania’s vital role in U.S. history, the state’s economy has become one of the most crucial pillars of the financial health of the country.

Economically, the Keystone State is anchored by two major cities, Philadelphia in the east and Pittsburgh in the west.

Philadelphia, home to seven Fortune 500 companies, is one of the nation’s leaders in the financial and insurance industry. Among the major companies that are headquartered in Philadelphia include Comcast, Pep Boys, Aramark, and Cigna. Wells Fargo also maintains a very strong presence in the City of Brotherly Love.

The city of Pittsburgh is home to eight Fortune 500 companies and is famous for its manufacturing power, especially steel production. U.S. Steel, one of the largest steel producers in the world, Heinz, and PNC Financial Services are among the companies based in the Steel City.

Pennsylvania’s gross state product of $644 billion is the sixth largest in the U.S. Also, and quite impressively, if Pennsylvania was an independent nation it would have the 18th largest economy in the world.

LendEDU wanted to evaluate how Pennsylvania’s expansive and dynamic economy was impacting the financial security of its residents. In order to do this, we licensed data from Experian including the average credit score of every town and city in the Keystone State.

Nearly 1,000 cities in Pennsylvania were ranked according to their average VantageScore 3.0®1 credit score. Cities with a high average credit score usually experience high incomes, low unemployment, and a low number of defaults on mortgages and loans.

Rankings of Pennsylvania Cities by Average Credit Score

Methodology

All data used in this study is under license from Onboard Informatics and Experian. Onboard Informatics’ dataset was used for the most recent population figures and location purposes. Experian’s Premier Aggregated Credit StatisticsSM dataset was used to find the average VantageScore 3.0® credit score for every town and city in Pennsylvania.

Any town or city in Pennsylvania that had a population below 1,000 was immediately eliminated from further analysis. Some of the larger cities in Pennsylvania, like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, had multiple ZIPTM2 codes and thus, multiple average credit scores. In order to just have one average credit score for the larger cities, ZIPTM codes and their respective average credit score needed to consolidated and averaged. ZIPTM codes with a larger population were weighted more heavily when averaging together a city’s multiple average VantageScore 3.0® credit scores.

Once this was completed, we were able to rank Pennsylvania cities according to their average VantageScore 3.0® credit score. Experian’s Premier Aggregated Credit StatisticsSM dataset has average credit score as a stand alone statistic. Cities with a higher VantageScore 3.0® credit score were ranked higher in the rankings and vice versa.

1. VantageScore is a registered trademark of VantageScore Solutions, LLC.

2. Experian is a nonexclusive full-service provider licensee of the United States Postal Service. The following trademarks are owned by the United States Postal Service: ZIP and ZIP Code. The price for Experian’s services is not established, controlled or approved by the United States Postal Service.

Author: Mike Brown

In his role at LendEDU, Mike uses data, usually from surveys and publicly-available resources, to identify emerging personal finance trends and tell unique stories. Mike’s work, featured in major outlets like The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, provides consumers with a personal finance measuring stick and can help them make informed finance decisions.

Disclaimer: We try our best to keep the information on our site up to date and accurate. This information may be different than what you see on the websites of the companies we mention. All products and services are presented without warranty. When evaluating offers, you should review the Terms and Conditions of the product and/or company. Brands, product names, logos, and other trademarks mentioned on LendEDU are the property of their respective trademark holders. The information we present is for educational purposes only and you should consult a licensed financial professional before making any financial decisions. This site is compensated by third-party advertisers and is not endorsed or affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education.